When performing certain activities, it is often desirable and even necessary to wear gloves to cover and protect the hands of the individual. These gloves are formed from a wide range of materials and take various forms that can be altered as necessary depending on the particular activity being performed by the individual wearing the gloves, such as participating in sporting events, performing manual labor, or performing medical procedures, among others.
A large number of gloves used in various situations are formed from conventional fabric materials, which allow the individual wearing the glove to properly grasp the object being handled, while also allowing air to circulate through the glove, making the glove more comfortable to wear. However, for certain types of work that involve the handling of potentially hazardous substances or items that can cause damage to the hand of an individual when coming into direct contact with the hand, the benefits of the fabric material forming the glove can be detrimental to the use of the glove in these circumstances In particular, knit gloves, or gloves formed from cloth-like materials have not previously been used for protective purposes because of the nature of the knit or cloth materials, which can easily be torn, cut or punctured, and which readily absorb fluids. Though the knit or cloth gloves are formed from materials that are breathable and stretchable, making the gloves very comfortable to wear, relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture, these attributes make the gloves formed of these types of materials highly undesirable for use as a glove designed specifically to protect the hand of a wearer.
As a result, in these types of circumstances where the individual wearing the gloves contacts various types of objects, materials, fluids or substances that can be hazardous to the individual if the individual comes into direct contact with those materials, one of the primary considerations for the use of gloves in these situations is the ability of the glove to protect the hand of the individual from damage or injury resulting from direct contact with the objects, fluids or other materials being handled or contacted by the individual wearing the gloves.
Therefore, to enhance the ability of a glove to protect the hand of a wearer, various types of materials have been utilized in the construction of gloves utilized for these purposes. For example, certain types of gloves have been developed that are unitarily formed from materials that are highly resistant to tearing, cutting and/or puncturing, and that are resistant to chemicals and fluids, i.e., waterproof, in order to provide the glove with the desired enhanced protective features. Materials of this type provide a suitable barrier between the hand of the individual positioned within the glove and the substances being handled by the individual that are in contact with the exterior of the glove, to prevent any direct contact between the hand and the substance contacted by the exterior of the glove.
However, as a function of the barrier provided by the unitary material forming the glove that prevents direct contact between the hand and the substance being handled, the material also prevents any gases from entering and circulating through the glove. Thus, the glove does not “breathe”, making the glove very uncomfortable to wear for any significant length of time.
For certain uses, gloves have been developed that have both barrier and breathable characteristics, such as gardening gloves in which a knit or cloth glove is partially coated in a dipping process that deposits a protective coating over a portion of the glove, usually the palm portion, and that leaves the remainder of the glove exposed to enable the glove to stretch, flex and breathe as a normal knit glove. However, because the coating does not extend over the entire surface of the knit glove, the glove formed with the dipped coating does not provide the necessary level of protection required for certain tasks.
As a result, it is desirable to develop a glove formed from an inexpensive material that is stretchable, breathable, and easy to manufacture that can be adapted for effective utilization as a protective glove that resists tearing, cutting or puncturing, that is resistant to chemicals and that is waterproof.